Lady In Red
by TheWarriorQueen
Summary: AU. Fred lives! A Katie/Fred fluffshot. George stole the notes for Fred's wedding speech, so he's got to ad lib. What does he say? Inspired by Lady in Red by Chris de Burgh, but not a songfic. Written for missloonythebookworm. Complete.


**For missloonythebookworm, who requested a Katie/Fred at the Yule Ball. When I realized that Katie/Fred was AU, I immediately saved Fred from death-by-wall, and married him off. I had the story from Katie's perspective, when the Chris de Burgh song came on, and I was carried away by inspiration. So here it is, a happy-ever-after.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor his universe. I stopped wanting to around the time that JKR killed off Fred.**

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The laughing, cheering crowd quieted, as a mischievous redhead by the name of Fred Weasley stepped up to the podium, grinning at everyone. "Good evening, everybody. I had a long speech all planned, with jokes, and 'pause for laughter' cues. Then my brother George stole the notes, replacing them with an old Potions essay." Here he paused for laughter, and was not disappointed. "So I'm not going to read aloud the properties of asphodel, sorry, George. But I will still make a speech. This one's coming straight from the heart, and I'm hoping my heart will be eloquent, today.

"I fell in love with you early, Katie. Until the night of the Yule Ball, you'd been a good friend, one of the Lioness dream-team Chasers, and the girl with the mean left cross. Until that night, thoughts of love were jokes to me, like most of life. But that night, you stole my sixteen-year-old heart clean away, like a surprise Quaffle snatch. I'd asked you because you were my friend, and then I saw you on the stairs, coming down from the girls' dorms.

"You were standing there, with Ang and Alicia right behind you, like a fine lady and her attendants, the loveliest of them all." He ducked a light Stinging Hex. "Sorry, Ang, not to say you weren't looking good, but you can't hold a candle to my bride, not in my eyes." All the women in the crowd cooed. Angelina looked mollified. "You were positively radiant. In that instant, I felt all those old fairy-tale feelings. I nearly checked over my shoulder to see if you were looking at someone else, because surely, you couldn't be looking at _me_.

"At the ball, when we stopped for me to spike the punch, I could hardly blame all those other guys who came up and asked you to dance. I could see it in their eyes; that they wished you had entered on _their_ arm; that they wished that you were going to the next Hogsmeade weekend with them. That was when I realized that I had to ask you, because if I gave any of them half a chance… And having seen you as more than a team-mate and friend, having seen you transformed into someone so far beyond my league, with that red dress and those gold threads braided into your hair, catching the candlelight and those gold flecks in your eyes that sparkle when you laugh, I just couldn't bear the thought of you with anyone else.

"And dancing with you, Katie, was an out of this world experience. When that slow dance came on, and you and I were dancing cheek to cheek, it was as though the rest of the world just disappeared, and we were all alone on that dance floor. No-one else mattered but us two. In that instant, there was nowhere else I'd rather have been.

"I hardly recognized you, you know. You were so beautiful, and unapproachable, because you couldn't possibly want me, the court jester to your ladyship. The way you looked that night… I'll never forget it, ever." The guests were silent, spell-bound by the emotion in his voice.

"Every twirl, every hand gesture, it captivated me. You were gorgeous, my love, and I was enthralled. You were a shining star amidst all the others, a crystal prism reflecting your enchanting light onto those around you. People gathered around you, drawn like moths to a flame.

"And then, when I thought that I had lost you to the admirers that clustered around, you turned to me and smiled, and I was struck breathless by the realization that I was in love, then and forevermore. I was honestly, truly, head over heels in love, and it was no joke anymore.

"We danced every song, after that. I need only close my eyes to remember you, my pretty lady in red. I love you with all my heart, and you made me the luckiest man in the world when you said yes. Yes to the Ball, yes to Hogsmeade, yes to dinner, and yes to marrying me. Katie, you are now my lady, and I, who played the fool all my life, am still your jester. I treasure every one of your laughs, and I hope to hear many more. I love you, Katie, with all my heart. I always will."

The wedding venue rang with applause, and there was hardly a dry eye to be seen. Katie Weasley (nee Bell) flung herself into her husband's arms, smiling through her tears, and made a mental note to thank George later. That idea lasted until she pulled out her own notes and found that she was holding a Quidditch magazine.

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**Ah, love. If I owe you a oneshot, and haven't messaged you about it within a week, please remind me. The messages often get lost in my inbox, and I have thirteen completed oneshots on my harddrive, and no idea who I owe them to.**

**TheWarriorQueen**


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